netdancer

Well, we have heat again, at the cost of basically a whole paycheck. It was the blower motor, and that's been replaced.

Joys of home-ownership.

Nothing more can break in January, I forbid it. (Frowny face here)

This pushes back my new glasses. :(

But it's snowing outside, and we have heat.

Turning 46 today!

Or is it 47? It's 47. I'm amazed that I've made it this far alive, with all the health woes that beset me.

But I have.

I got a new monitor on sale from NewEgg and that was my gift for the Winter holiday season. It has really improved my computing experience, especially LOTRO.

My mother made me home made popcorn balls, one of my childhood 'things', and sent a gift of cash that will cover tonight's birthday dinner at Golden Corral.

I am contented.

What was supposed to be family-togetherness fun last night playing LOTRO together became massively stressful when my account was suddenly hacked while I was playing(!)...this dropped me out of the game with the message that my account had logged in a second time.

I realized in minutes exactly what was happening, and was on the phone to Turbine as soon as I was sure. It took them very little time to slap a temp-ban on my account and walk me through regaining control of it and changing my password.

When I got back on, two of my characters had been deleted. Just gone. Including my Main, who was level 75 and outfitted with all kinds of nice stuff.

I put in a ticket to support and it escalated. They didn't get back to me until after 8AM this morning (when the senior staff gets in to work) to tell me that my characters are undeleted now and please check them for what might be missing. Overall I lost gold and whatever was in my packs and not nailed down that could be sold.

I filed tickets on the missing stuff and it was replaced.

I would have definitely felt better if a GM had paged me in game to say that I'd get looked over in the morning, during last night's worry, but all in all it worked out.

How can people do things like that? Slimy to steal someone's gold, worse to add injury by deleting the characters. I hope they get caught and perma banned.

In good news: The new sidewalk is unveiled and had been put to use, now people don't have to climb up onto the porch from the side anymore. :) And the ramp and bathroom will be started soonish. Probably after the holidays...

Anyhow, sleep now. Was up late fussing over my characters.

Well, my psych doc switched me to a med I can actually afford but the initial dose she set me is WAY too small and it's failing me completely. I have 2 books left on my to-read pile and after that I am out of distractions. She's dealing with it by phone though, and upped my dose 10 milligrams.

I am disgruntled, we're out of cheese. No sliced American, no Velveeta. And there was none at the food pantry. Arghlebargle. We'll get groceries this weekend I think but that doesn't save me tonight from not having cheeseburgers.

I have some exciting house news that I have been sitting on because I was afraid talking about it might make it fail to come true. There's a local agency called INHP that gets funds from HUD to repair homes and they MIGHT be willing to put a wheelchair ramp and handicapped bathroom on the house with a special loan that never goes due unless you move.

Since we do own this house the chances of my moving are not huge.

A wheelchair ramp! Mobility in the winter without the dangerous broken and distorted sidewalk that's out there now.

Second House thing: I am updating my application for Weatherization. This may get us a new furnace and water heater, blow in insulation, weather stripping, *possibly* some new windows. Again, a federal program for the poor.

This is all my stuff, I have to do the paperwork, make the calls, see the contractors, do whatever it takes to set meetings. It's basically my /job/ now.

Due to friends, we not only have the grocery money we needed, we have enough to seriously buy meat, fruits and vegetables.

I will eat a massive salad in your honor.

I got my disability rejection today. It's depressing, because I expected it since the hearing was in November and it took so long to hear a response but at the same time it really sucks to be told that I don't count as disabled when I can't stand for 5 minutes or walk any distance at all. So I have to call my lawyer on Monday and tell them I got this notice so we can file for an appeal again.

*sigh*

It feels like they are just trying to outlast me now, hoping I'll go away.

I'm a little low on good news right now, for which I apologize.

Work on the roof has finally started, today a nice guy came to tear off the old roofing and prep for the new roofing to go on.

Thursday I have an outing to go to the Strawberry Festival, where I will consume Strawberry Shortcake and listen to Jazz. Sunday is the Parish picnic on the circle too, I may go to that Corey willing.

Life is quiet and basically happy.

I'm MUSHing, on Darkwater still, with half an eye out for a decent nWOD place in case DW tanks with the change of command. One werewolf, one Changeling, both characters I am fond of and who have a story to tell.

I need to read more, I have homework for Church to do before I meet Gray on the 16th, and I am a slacker. Anyone who knows me knows how I procrastinate!

Our roof is bad enough that Home Depot declined to work on it. Going to have to get a second round of estimates from construction companies I fear. It's the pitch of the roof that's all wrong, it's almost flat...it doesn't drain water correctly. The contractor said the whole roof's basically a code violation, it can't be ventilated right, and that we should just move.

We don't want to move. This little house is the perfect size for us and in a good location comparatively.

So we have to make another round of collecting estimates and hope that Nancy is going to still be willing to cover the repairs when the quotes look more like 10,000 then 3,000.

Stress on me is so high I can hear the blood singing in my ears. :p BUT I already sent out requests for estimates to every recommend company except Bone-Dry.

Nancy's said she'll put the house in our name. If she does we'll be okay, I can get federal help.

Mike

The whole back roof over the new addition is bad from the beginning and needs to be redone. Currently it is old, worn out shingles over a sheet of plastic. I am told that this is –not- a proper way to build a roof; the exact quote was that it looked like the shingles had been found in a garage somewhere. That the proper roof is new shingles over tar paper.

We put 1,000.00 into having the seven leaks in the roof patched but that is a patch and it will not last forever. We had the damaged interior drywall in the ceilings replaced too.

This is on top of the health department finding that –all- the trim and all the paint on the front porch is lead-based and in need of containment and removal and us having to pay to rewire the hot water heater correctly. (The wrong type of wiring was used to wire it, and it was hooked to a source too small to support it.)

Do you have any proposal to repair the roof?

Kennet

(Sent to the contractor who rehabbed this house before we bought it. I'm really tired of hijm evading this issue.)

Not something I'd ever visualized doing, but my therapist suggested I join Overeater's Anonymous. With good reason too, considering that I'm struggling to get my diabetes under control to prevent more kidney damage and I'm having a very rough time of it.

To say I have food issues is rather an understatement. I self-medicate and self-harm with food, and I often use food as a reward. I eat when I'm bored. I eat when I'm stressed or upset. I do this even knowing that my health is rocky and needs to be attended to before there's a real disaster.

So...OA. I've been to one online meeting and I've joined the e-list. I'll be in the next 'newcomer' class that starts on the 1st. I need to buy myself a 12-step guide and workbook, although that's not *required*, as I think having the physical books will help me be more compliant.

I'm kind of wondering if I need to get out more and what I could -do- that doesn't over-extend what I -can- do. Pretty much it has to be something Corey could get into too or at least tolerate; he's for all intents and purposes my PCA (Personal Care Assistant). So he has to go with me to push my wheelchair; my ability to walk any distance is really gone now.

So if I start going to church or something it has to be something he'd do too, because it would be distressing to want to be involved in an activity and know he's sitting there bored out of his skull or annoyed at having to trek out with me for some activity he doesn't like.

In a bizarre way we do have the twice-monthly trip to the Food Pantry as one of our 'things' that we do together. It isn't *exactly* a social event but it isn't -not- because people start to recognize you after you go for a while.

I'm trying a self-reward strategy too - if I can get my blood sugar levels stable for 'x' amount of time I get my Nintendo DSi XL that I want so badly, and each additional 'x' months stable = 1 game. (I want, I really want, that weight coach program...)

I don't know if the greed for the Nintendo is more powerful then the desire for a milkshake but I sure am going to find out.

I have a good feeling about OA too, based on the meeting I attended online. They say the whole process can be done online and by e-mail, so I don't have to ask Corey to go out to meetings with me locally and don't have to come up with the $7.00 a week extra that would cost in bus fare.

I'm kind of embarrassed too, about basically needing a 12 Step program. :p But I did the checklist where 3 or more Yes answers marks out a Compulsive Overeater and I am one. (I was not surprised to find this out. When you sneak food when no one's looking you kinda know something is not right...)